Biblical Worldview BJU Press Program Review

I recently had the privilege of reviewing the BJU Biblical Worldview program. This program offers high-school-aged homeschoolers a comprehensive induction into a good Christian worldview. The worldview offered is consistent with Bob Jones university theology – conservative and very decided in its opinions. Students won’t come out with a wishy-washy worldview after doing this course! Rather, they will learn a strong, Bible-based theology after the style of Calvin. 

Rebbecca Devitt

I hope you enjoy reading this blog post. If you want to do my course on how to homeschool, click here.

I’ve also created a little video of the program, complete with pictures of the package I received in the mail from BJU homeschool providers.

Some of the links in this post are affiliate links.

Who is BJU Press?

BJU Press (or Bob Jones University Press) has been around for many years, providing families with Christian homeschooling curriculum since the 1970s.

They create curricula for schools and homeschools.

This means they are structured after a traditional homeschooling style.

They offer different packages with a mix of textbook and video formats.

As far as their goals go, they are two-fold.

Firstly, to present their material from a biblical worldview and, secondly, to encourage academic excellence in students.

You can read more about BJU Press here.

You can also check out their other curriculum here.

Books and Papers in the BJU Biblical Worldview Package

The Biblical Worldview package from BJU comes with several books and booklets. These include:

  • the student Biblical Worldview textbook,
  • a teachers edition of the Biblical Worldview textbook
  • student activities book
  • student activities answer book
  • BJU testing papers and
  • BJU testing papers with answers.

In total, there are six books or booklets including test papers.

Train your high school homeschoolers in a biblical worldview using the BJU Biblical Worldview curriculum. #bju #worldview

Contents of the BJU Biblical Worldview Book

There are several chapters in the textbook which give you an idea of the topics covered in the material. These include:

  1. Worldviews
    1. Worldviews
    2. Presuppositions
    3. The Two-Story View
  2. Creation
    1. God the Creator
    2. Man and His Mandate
    3. Everything God Made Was Very Good
  3. Fall
    1. Far as the Curse is Found
    2. Common Grace, The World and You
    3. Structure and Direction
  4. Redemptions
    1. An Everlasting Kingdom
    2. Redeemed for Good Works
    3. The Mission of the Church and Your Vocation
  5. Gender
    1. The man and the Woman in Creation
    2. Marriage Twisted
    3. Marriage Redeemed
  6. Government
    1. Foundations of Government
    2. Political Perspectives
    3. The Goal of Government
  7. Science
    1. Science is Something God Created Humans to Do
    2. Fallen Science
    3. Reading Genesis and Doing Science
  8. History
    1. Foundations for History
    2. Fallen History
    3. History in Light of Redemptions
  9. Arts & Culture
    1. Truth, Goodness, and Beauty
    2. The False, the Bad and the Ugly
    3. Creative Cultivators

At the end, there are also endnotes, a memory verse list, and a scripture and topical index. Parents can get additional ideas of questions they should ask and activities they should do by looking in the teacher’s edition (we talk more about the teacher’s edition below).

Layout of Each Chapter

The main Biblical Worldview textbook comes with interesting pictures, diagrams, and charts illustrating important ideas and topics. The layout is also interesting to read thanks to the colorful headings and numbers.

I found that this curriculum teaches students plenty of vocabulary throughout the text. To explain words, it often has a definitions box on the side, outlining the word and what it means. See the picture below.

Definitions explanation box on side of BJU Biblical Worldview Curriclum

Do I Need the Teacher’s Edition?

When looking through the six books I had in front of me, I wondered if parents needed to buy the teacher’s edition. This is a question my parents often struggled with when buying us homeschooling textbooks. After all, when you’re on a single income, saving money is vital and you don’t want to spend unnecessary money unless you have to.

I think the Teacher’s Edition is a bit of a necessity in this case. That is, you will find it hard to scrape by without it, as it makes the whole course a lot easier to understand and implement. The teacher’s edition gave plenty of extra information and explanations. I like that it:

  • shows parents the objectives for each section that guide instruction and assessments
  • helps parents make the textbook interactive (it’s not supposed to be read like a dry tome); rather it’s designed to be interactive
  • has Chapter Review answers located in the sidebars.
  • gives teachers prompts and suggested answers for discussions
  • suggests group activities like debating and class exercises
  • encourages teachers to point to current events for the benefit of students
  • tells teachers when students need to do an activity in their activity booklet

However, as a busy homeschooling parent, I suspect most parents won’t be reading through all the comments. This said, if you’re a parent who loves talking about a biblical worldview with your children, you’re probably going to love the Teacher’s Edition.

It will also help order lesson plans which you can do with BJU Press.

What’s in the Teacher’s Edition?

After I opened it up, I realized it was not just a similar copy of the student version. It is essentially a very detailed commentary of the textbook. It helps students explain the ideas they’re reading in the book.

BJU Worldviews Teachers Edition 1

What’s in the Activities Booklet?

The Bob Jones Biblical Worldview Activities booklet has projects that further reinforce the subject matter covered in the textbook.

They offer more expansive explanations and opportunities for practical application.

Through these books, students learn how to creatively apply what they’ve learned and how to think about the non-biblical worldviews in their culture.

Activity Booklet showing answers to questions in red.

The booklet begins with a short note to the teacher on using the activity manual.

Educators can grade or forego the grading of materials.

Also, activities can be done individually or in a group.

I looked at the setup of the first activity. The booklet presents the views of Richard Dawkins in Activity one, stating his beliefs and opinions. The text then points students to a quote by Dawkins before asking them to summarize the worldview faith pre-commitments Dawkins belief system has.

They then ask students to explore what this means about death and suffering.

After this, several other relevant questions contrast the Biblical Worldview with the Dawkins/Athiest Worldview.

Can I Use This Program With Another Curriculum?

BJU material is presented in a traditional education style.

Some homeschooling parents might a Classical or Charlotte Mason style curriculum, but they can easily use this program as an induction into a Biblical worldview, especially if their homeschool curriculum lacks biblical material.

There’s So Much! Do I Need to Do It All?

A common complaint I hear with many traditional homeschooling curricula is that there is too much information.

Parents often say it’s nearly impossible to get through the mountain of information they’re given.

This was a comment I heard when I reviewed the larger BJU curriculum.

(Note: I use BJU Press in my homeschool and love it. I occasionally skip material that my son knows, but this isn’t a tedious issue, and doesn’t happen often.)

Parents should make a judgment call as to what material students should do and what they can skip.

In the early years, homeschool lessons should be short and fun as parents aim to engender their children with a love of learning.

By high school, students are hopefully so excited about learning they’re devouring books.

Parents need to gauge their students’ levels and work with them.

Skip material if it’s too much – do it all if they love it :).

The activities booklet even says that parents and educators ought to grade or not grade at their discretion.

(Worried about homeschool accreditation for college? Go here to find out why it’s not a big issue! Also, look at these different ways homeschoolers can enter college.)

Returns Policy

If you find the curriculum isn’t going to work in your home, you can return the packages within 30 days so long as it is in unused form.

You get money back, but you pay the postage to the warehouse.

You can also get a refund after 90 days, although this will be minus 10% due to a restocking fee.

Conclusion

I enjoyed doing this review of the BJU Biblical Worldview curriculum. As someone who prays and reads the Bible daily, I felt this textbook did a great job connecting current events with biblical theology. Although the textbook is written for a teenage audience, it is rigorous and encourages deep thought. The book can change and form students’ minds to align with a biblical perspective on life. Parents will also enjoy learning the Biblical worldview presented alongside their children.

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Rebecca Devitt

Most adults don't particularly want to relive their schooling experience on a daily basis. They would gladly move on to a new life devoid of homework and teachers. Very, very few adults will passionately blog about their schooling some 15 years after graduating. This makes Rebecca Devitt somewhat unique. As it happens, she was homeschooled. And she loved it. Still does. And she wishes every kid could get a taste of homeschooling at its very best. Her website How Do I Homeschool, is a springboard for parents to see what a life of homeschooling could be for both them & their children. When she's not blogging Rebecca is still homeschooling her-adult-self by learning Latin, growing weird vegetables and most importantly looking after her two children Luke & Penny. She has a husband Tristan and is a participant at Wollongong Baptist Church. She's also written a book about why parents should homeschool called 'Why on Earth Homeschool'.

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